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Introduction
Many of the developmental issues children face in their youth are linked to disorders that affect their learning and behavior patterns. While the average child would go through a range of normal variations in their behaviors, children with these types of developmental problems fall beyond the range of typical actions. Not just one disorder is to blame for these progressive issues though. There are several, and they can range from highly disruptive to those that are barely an issue in a child’s daily activity. Amongst the many is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Children who have short attention span and are not able to stay on task are considered to have this disorder. Here we will examine characteristics and symptoms that are common to those who share this disorder, including the history and how its many issues can often be treated.
What is “ADHD”?: A Brief History
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder commonly diagnosed in children, hindering an individual's ability to attend to responsibilities, capability to control one's behavior, and interferes with the ability to regulate one's activity level. First described by Heinrich Hoffman, a German physicist, to the public in 1845, ADHD plagued families for many years prior to its recognition as a disorder. The actual terminology of ‘ADHD’ was not officially familiar until 1902, when British pediatrician, Sir George Still, described “an abnormal defect of moral control in children” based off of his observations in the inability of “mentally retarded” children to control their behavior the way typical children would. But even with its broadcasting, it took the world of science many years to understand and accept it as...
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...r lives, these children will be able to better prioritize their responsibilities and work out processes to fulfill their goals.
Works Cited
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While the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association) put forth a list of behaviors which predominantly fall in the category of ADD and/or ADHD, many researchers still maintain that there is no set way to diagnosis or develop a treatment program to these disorders which will be guaranteed to work. At the same time there is another set of researchers who maintain that these disorders actually do not exist at all. However, in the real world, parents and educators still continue to struggle with the task of coping with children who are hyperactive and who have very low attention span and whose behavior often interferes with schooling and family life. [Armstrong, 1997]
ADHD is an exceedingly real diagnosis for many children in the United States. Are we over diagnosing our little ones just to keep from dealing with unpleasant behavior? “ On average 1 of every 10 to 15 children in the United States has been diagnosed with the disorder, and 1 in every 20 to 25 uses a stimulant medication” (Mayes, Bagwell, & Erkulwater, 2008). Several believe that virtually all ADHD diagnoses are retractable with appropriate discipline of children instead of being so hasty in medicating them. The material found on the CDC website describes facts about ADHD, it clarifies the signs, symptoms, types, causes, diagnosis tools, and treatment forms of ADHD. What the article neglects to go into is the reality that there is a considerable amount of controversy surrounding ADHD. The CDCs usage of ethos, pathos, and logos and by what method the website manipulates them to affect the reader will be the basis of this paper.
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behavioral outcomes of children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Volume 50, Issue April 2008, Pages 347-350. doi: 10.1080/00131880802499803.
At least one in four families in the U.S. is affected by mental illnesses. Unfortunately there is no cure for this range of illnesses, which have been around for thousands of years. Of the American adult population, 5.4 percent have a serious mental illness. These health conditions are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, behavior, or some combination of these. They are also associated with distress and sometimes impaired functioning. In 1990 the total cost of mental health services in the U.S. was $148 billion. According to a new report by the Mental Health Foundation, one in five children suffer from a mental health problem. Attention deficit hyperactive disorder is a mental illness that is diagnosed mainly in young children and doesn’t always disappear in adulthood.” All we know is that this genetic, inherited condition [ADHD] is not due to brain damage at all but rather a variation in how the brain functions.” Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) includes symptoms and characteristics that can be placed in one of three categories: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. These characteristics commonly leave a person with ADHD with lack of attention span, easily distracted, fidgety, struggling to stay seated, having trouble engaging in calm activities, impatient, and talking excessively or out of turn. A new study by researchers says that hyperactive children have behavioral differences due to under active parts of their brain, a biological malfunction, rather than due to way they were brought up. This was revealed by a magnetic scanning device that allowed researchers to look at the brains of children diagnosed with ADHD. These studies and statistics reinforce the claim that mental illnesses are not invented simply to justify drugging of children and a disease that needs be educated to the public for better understanding. Rather, ADHD is an illness that affects many people throughout their lives. This topic is often misunderstood by the public. The media and medical community need to educate the positive side of this controversy and not just show the opposing view, which often times misrepresented by the media.
ADHD is a disorder that has been on the rise for several years now. The disorder is one that can cause many impairments to a child’s attention span, making it difficult to concentrate and to keep on task, especially on schoolwork. (Graham, 2007) The statistics have been growing ...
Springer. (2010, 9 30). The history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder . Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000907/
According to Dr. Robert Epstein, Medco’s chief medical officer, seventeen percent of total drug cost spending last year was for behavior medicines; compared with sixteen percent for both asthma and antibiotics, eleven percent for skin disorders and six percent for allergy medicines. There was also a 369% increase in spending on ADHD drugs for kids under the age of five. A lot of children have been diagnosed with ADHD, and many of their parents have opted to give them behavioral drugs. Some parents give the drugs because they are not aware of the long term effects or the psychological dependency, and lastly because they are not aware of the alternatives. As parents we have to be more cognizant of what these disorders are and how they affect the child. Drugs are not always the only solution.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is very commonly known. Today, ADHD is one of the most common mental disorders among children. The NIMH (The national institute of mental health) predicts that it affecting 3 to 5 percent of all children(AACAP), with an approximate amount of 30% to 65% of these children experiencing persistence of symptoms into adolescence and adulthood (AACAP).There are three types of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type, Predominantly Inattentive Type, and Combination Type(ehow.com). The symptoms of ADHD can be classified into three main categories; hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. These behaviors can interfere with ADHD sufferers’ ability to focus deliberately on organizing and completing a specific task that they may not enjoy. A case of this kind of behavior is recognized in a report written by the National Institute of Mental Health where one of the subjects under study was unable to pass schooling examinations due to her inattentive behavior (clinicaltrials.gov) These kinds of behaviors can damage the person's relationships with others in addition to disrupting their daily life, consuming energy, and diminishing self-esteem, depending on severity of their symptoms (adhd.com). In this paper, the multiple factors of how ADHD affects, and is handled, of those who undergo this disorder, are shown.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is broadly described as a neurobehavioral disorder where a person has difficulty paying attention and complying with basic commands. On a biological level, ADHD is hereditary, where a parent passes the disorder to their offspring through genes, while on a cellular level, ADHD affects cell functions such as cellular respiration, more specifically, glucose metabolism (Zimmer, 2009). The public’s perception is clear; ADHD has an over diagnosing problem at a systemic level, where doctors in the United States over diagnose children with ADHD. However, a review of the evidence for and against the argument of ADHD over diagnosing suggest that the disorder does not suffer from an over diagnosing problem. Finally, while there are several methods used to treat ADHD, including medication and behavioral correction therapy, an
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Galves, Albert. "Debunking the Science Behind ADHD as a "Brain Disorder", ByAlbert Galves, Ph.D. & David D. Walker, Ph.D." Debunking the Science Behind ADHD as a "Brain Disorder", ByAlbert Galves, Ph.D. & David D. Walker, Ph.D. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2014. .